Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2023 Oct 31:12:378.
doi: 10.4103/jehp.jehp_204_23. eCollection 2023.

Ayurvedic and herbal plaque control agents in gingivitis: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Danish Javed  1 , Ashish Kumar Dixit  1 , Sana Anwar  2 , Anshul Rai  3 , Kawal Krishan  4
Affiliations
Review

Ayurvedic and herbal plaque control agents in gingivitis: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Danish Javed et al. J Educ Health Promot. .

Abstract

Background: Since the effectiveness of ayurvedic and herbal plaque control agents in reducing plaque in gingivitis is inconsistent across multiple trials, we conducted a study to evaluate their overall effect on dental plaque index (PI), gingival index, and bacterial colony counts (CC) of debris in gingivitis patients.

Materials and methods: We searched major electronic biomedical databases (PubMed/Medline, CAM-QUEST®, EBSCOhost, Google Scholar, EMBASE, Scopus, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials) from August 2004 to August 2021 for randomized control trials on gingivitis using ayurvedic, herbal plaque control agents, and oil pulling therapy as interventions. We grouped comparable outcome parameters of similar products and estimated the standard mean difference (SMD) for pooled effect size with 95% confidence intervals (CI) using RevMan 5.4.1 software. Risk-of-bias (ROB) assessment followed the Cochrane Collaboration's recommended approach.

Results: We found 554 articles of 2,806 patients after searching of which 41 randomized clinical trials were considered for meta-analysis. Ayurvedic plaque control agents (Plaque index (PI): SMD = -0.52, 95% CI (-0.94, -0.11); CC: SMD = -1.70, 95% CI (-5.06, 1.67)), (Oil pulling therapy: PI: SMD = -0.38, 95% CI (-1.45, 0.68); CC: SMD = -1.04, 95% CI (-2.20, 0.11)), (Herbal plaque control agents: PI: SMD = -0.58, 95% CI (-1.55, 0.39)), (Triphala: PI: SMD = -0.65, 95% CI (-1.32, 0.03)) were found as good as control. Significant reduction in the gingival index and bacterial colony count was also seen.

Conclusions: In addition to conventional dental care, ayurvedic and herbal plaque control agents may help in plaque reduction, gingival inflammation, and bacterial growth. They are safe and may be recommended in community dentistry practices.(PROSPERO registration number: CRD42021274656).

Keywords: Ayurvedic; dental plaque; gingivitis; herbal medicine; medicine; mouthwashes; plant oils.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

There are no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Study flow diagram
Figure 2
Figure 2
Risk of bias graph: review authors’ judgments about each risk of bias item presented as percentages across all included studies
Figure 3
Figure 3
(a and b) Forest plots of included studies
Figure 4
Figure 4
Funnel plot of comparison: (a) Ayurvedic preparation, (b) Oil pulling therapy, (c) Herbal preparations and (d) Triphala vs. Control, Outcome: Plaque index.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Nazir MA. Prevalence of periodontal disease, its association with systemic diseases and prevention. Int J Health Sci. 2017;11:72–80. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Weijden GA, Hioe KPK. A systematic review of the effectiveness of self-performed mechanical plaque removal in adults with gingivitis using a manual toothbrush. J Clin Periodontol. 2005;32:214–28. - PubMed
    1. Barnett ML. The rationale for the daily use of an antimicrobial mouthrinse. J Am Dent Assoc. 2006;137:16–21. - PubMed
    1. Serrano J, Escribano M, Roldan S, Martín C, Herrera D. Efficacy of adjunctive anti-plaque chemical agents in managing gingivitis: A systematic review and meta-analysis. J Clin Periodontol. 2015;42:106–38. - PubMed
    1. Moran JM. Home-use oral hygiene products: Mouthrinses. Periodontol. 2008;48:42–53. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources